Ars Technica reports, “US space officials do not like to talk about the perils of flying astronauts on the aging International Space Station, elements of which are now more than a quarter of a century old. However, a new report confirms that NASA managers responsible for operating the space station are seriously concerned about a small Russian part of the station, essentially a tunnel that connects a larger module to a docking port, which is leaking. … A new report, published Thursday by NASA’s inspector general, provides details not previously released by the space agency that underline the severity of the problem.”
Full Story (Ars Technica)
Tag: September 2024
Embraer Shares More Details About its New Autonomous Takeoff System
Simple Flying reports, “During the Farnborough Airshow earlier this year, Embraer introduced a new takeoff system it calls E2TS, which stands for Embraer Enhanced Takeoff System. It’s a world-first automated takeoff system, which will see the pilots not rotating the aircraft off the runway. … At a media briefing last week, Embraer revealed more details about the E2TS system and how it works, as well as its potential to influence the wider aviation industry, not just the E2 family of aircraft.”
Full Story (Simple Flying)
Boeing Pauses 737 Production
Flying Magazine reports, “Boeing 737 production ground to a halt on Wednesday as the company continues to be riddled with costly strikes in the Pacific Northwest. A Fortune report stated that two separate representatives from Boeing confirmed the production stoppage after a Tuesday Bank of America analyst note suggested production of the company’s best-selling jets had come to a ‘complete halt.’”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)
SpaceX Crew 9 Mission That Will Bring Back Starliner Astronauts Prepares for Launch
USA Today reports, “The SpaceX Dragon that next year will ferry the Starliner astronauts back to Earth is preparing to finally depart for the International Space Station as early as this weekend. Aboard the company’s Dragon capsule will be two Crew-9 astronauts embarking to the orbital outpost for a six-month rotation to perform a slew of research and experiments. Originally scheduled for an August launch, the mission had been delayed while NASA and Boeing officials worked to figure out what to do about the troubled Starliner spacecraft taking up the Dragon’s docking port.”
Full Story (USA Today)
Blue Origin Conducts Hot Fire Test on New Glenn’s Upper Stage
Aviation Week reports, “Blue Origin on Sept. 23 conducted a 15-sec. hot fire of the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen-fueled upper stage for its first New Glenn rocket, in what the company called a critical milestone on the road to flight. The static test fire at Space Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral SFS marked Blue Origin’s first fueling of a New Glenn rocket stage with flight propellants, and the first engine burn of an integrated flight stage.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
UK’s Civil Aviation Authority to Begin BVLOS Drone Demos by Year’s End
Aviation Week reports, “The UK Civil Aviation Authority plans to begin beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) drone demonstrations by year’s end and establish routine operations by 2027 under a road map released by the regulator Sept. 24. The road map lays out a plan to enable scalable, specific-category uncrewed aircraft…”
Full Story (Aviation Week – Subscription Publication)
Innovators Invited to Compete to Build Best Autonomous Emergency Response Aircraft
Flying Magazine reports, “Calling all students, engineers, businesses, and other innovators. Time is running out to join a competition that will award $2 million in prizes to whoever can build the best autonomous emergency response aircraft. December 11 is the submission deadline for Stage 1 of GoAERO—a three-year contest backed by NASA, Boeing, RTX, and other key aviation stakeholders seeking to aid the estimated 4.5 million Americans living in ‘ambulance deserts,’ who may need to wait longer than 25 minutes for emergency services to arrive. The aircraft created by competitors could rescue people in danger and respond to disasters, medical emergencies, or humanitarian crises.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)
Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 Makes 4th Successful Test Flight
Simple Flying reports, “Boom Supersonic conducted a fourth and successful Boom XB-1test flight, this time reaching an altitude of 16,150 feet and a speed of Mach 0.617 (about 313 knots equivalent airspeed) during tests for flutter, g-forces, handling, and landing gear. The proof-of-concept XB-1 is helping educate Boom Supersonic on how to build and test supersonic aircraft in the lead-up to building Boom Overture.”
Full Story (Simple Flying)
MQ-4C Triton Makes Five Hour Flight Within the Arctic Circle, Validates Navigation Capability
The Aviationist reports, “Northrop Grumman’s MQ-4C Triton High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) surveillance and intelligence UAV ‘successfully demonstrated’ its ‘navigation system’s ability to operate at high latitudes deep within the Arctic Circle,’ the company said in a release on Sep. 19, 2024.”
Full Story (The Aviationist)
SpaceX Preps for Upcoming Test Flight by Firing Up Engines on 6th Starship
SPACE reports, “SpaceX fired up the engines of its sixth Starship vehicle on Wednesday (Sept. 18) to gear up for a test flight that’s probably still several months away. The company performed a “static fire” on Wednesday (Sept. 18) at its Starbase site in South Texas, briefly igniting the six Raptor engines of Ship 31, the upper stage of the vehicle that will conduct the sixth Starship test flight.”
Full Story (SPACE)